2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, And 2001 Baltimore Marathon Recaps

Today is the 13th running of the Baltimore Marathon, so I thought I would write a race recap of the first five years of the race since Bill and I ran all five of those years.

The inaugural race in 2001 had packet pick-up on race morning so Bill and I arrived bright and early to make it there with plenty of time to spare and not be rushed. We arrived so early that we were able to park within a few parking spaces of the race finish and were able wait in our car until the last minute to walk over to the start. After the race we just had to walk a few steps to our car! We loved that the race ran through Camden Yards since at the time we were huge Baltimore Orioles fans (pre Washington Nationals). I ran that first Baltimore marathon in 4:03:15 (9:17 pace). Here we are in front of the Baltimore Ravens Stadium, or PSI Net Stadium as it was called at the time.

2001

There were signs up all over the city letting motorist know that the race would be held on Saturday morning, but the local residents must have been pretty surprised by the number of street closures and how long they remained closed. Most drivers were patiently waiting and cheering us on as we ran by. Most drivers…

The best line of the day came from a very frustrated driver who shouted, “I hope you all die of a heart attack!” First of all it would be very hard for all of us to die from ONE heart attack, and fortunately I didn’t hear of anyone dying that day.

In 2002 my friend Miles and some of the runners from his group joined us for the marathon and half-marathon. Here’s a shot of some of us before the race. Check out the dude in the middle photo-bombing us! HaHa!

2002

Miles, Bill, Josh, and I started out together, but a few miles in I decided that I felt good and wanted to run my own race and separated from the group. I settled into a comfortable pace and ran with a younger woman the last eight miles or so. We hardly talked, just the occasional encouraging word to each other. With two miles to go, I felt really good so I took off. The the last thing she said to me was to be careful not to push to early and crash. I ran my best Baltimore that day and won my age group with a time of 3:44:55 (8:35 pace).

After the race, Bill and I got a quick picture with our medals before we drove home. Of course I don’t have my trophy because in typical Debbie fashion it didn’t dawn on me to check and see if I’d placed in my age group.

2002

It wasn’t until I got home and checked my results that I found out I’d won my AG and had to have the trophy mailed to me.

The first two years we received cotton long sleeved shirts. I no longer have the 2001 shirt, because I probably used it as a throw-away shirt at another race. Oops!

Here’s a back view of the 2002 shirt with it’s cool logo…

We returned in 2003 and I felt great and was on track to run a 3:30 race at the half marathon point. Just after I entered a portion of the course that runs past row home after row home, my stomach started bothering me and I couldn’t find a porta-potty. I had no choice but to do the butt-clenched walk of shame for a mile or two until I got to a soccer field where there was a glorious porta potty. Obviously this took me way off my goal time, but I still somehow managed to pull off a 3:57:37 (9:04 pace).

In 2004 I ran a 3:51:09 (8:49 pace), but remember no particular stories of interest from that year. 😉

Here’s a picture of our 2003, 2004, and 2005 shirts. At this time Under Armour was a major sponsor so we got really awesome shirts, and no more cotton!

During the 2005 marathon, Bill was ahead of me and running with a group of young women when we saw each other across the grassy median on an out-and-back portion of the course. We met in the middle for a quick kiss and all of the women running with Bill let out a collective, “Awwwww…” We were both feeling like “26 miles of bad road” and Bill decided to slow down and let me catch up with him. We cracked up when we passed a man sitting on his front steps saying, “Keep your eye on the prize, keep your eye on the prize.” We ran/walked the last few miles of the marathon together and finished with a time of 4:41:03 (10:43 pace ).

2005

Here are my bibs from all five years…

Here’s my collection of Baltimore Marathon finisher’s medals.

In 2005 since we had run all five year’s races, we received a cute little 5th Anniversary pin…

And we purchased this poster which hangs in our sports themed basement…

The Baltimore Marathon was always well organized and a lot of fun. After the first year or two they no longer had race morning packet pick-up so that made it a little more inconvenient for us, but that certainly wasn’t the reason we stopped running it. We thought that the completion of five years was a good stopping point and that we should open our schedule up for some other races. I’d highly recommend running this race if you’re considering it!

10 Comments

1 Ping/Trackback

I’ve never done any marathons on the east coast. Sounds like a great event though. I used to buy race posters, but you get to a certain point where there just is no more room. My best isn’t really a poster, it was a canvas (?) wall hanging that was at the host hotel the first year I ran the Honolulu Marathon (my first marathon too). When we were getting ready to leave, my husband asked about it, because it was dated so they really couldn’t use it again. He paid a valet/porter about $50 and asked him to send it to us. It still hangs in our garage.

I’ve never even heard of a race poster! Your basement sounds like the place to be, Debbie… workouts, medals, race posters, sports theme. I love it. 🙂
I also love that Bill was running with the ladies when you stopped to get a kiss! Too awesome!

I love when you do these “flashback” posts from past races you’ve run, pre-blog. They’re always so much fun to read about!

I ran the Baltimore Half in 2008 (I think it was ’08) and it was not a good experience for me. Overall the race itself was pretty good. The expo was in the club level of the football stadium, which was neat, I enjoyed the race course, and the weather was decent. However, I had a bad chest cold and a pounding headache. I also remember everyone being stopped on the course by a police officer who wanted to let traffic cross the intersection. I could not believe that. The only issue I had with the race was the traffic getting there, but that was just due to the size, I think. Thank goodness dad was driving 🙂 It’s definitely a race I’d consider running again, though.

I love race posters! I don’t have any, but I am really hoping to get one in Charlotte this November.

Cool recaps! I’ve never actually been at a race that I’m aware of them selling posters. I’m sure there may have been at some of the larger races I’ve done, but I usually don’t buy anything after paying so much for entry.

I’m Debbie (or Deb), a lover of family, life, and all things running; and I aspire to share my love of fitness through Deb Runs. As a personal trainer and running coach, I enjoy helping others adopt a healthy lifestyle to improve the quality of their lives.

Archives

Archives

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Simply put, this blog contains Amazon affiliate links, meaning that I will earn a commission anytime you purchase items by clicking on these links. You will never pay any more when buying a product from Amazon through my link, and you will be connected to Amazon as you usually are. The only difference is that Amazon pays me for referring you!